Sorrenson, Joyce Elaine

Joyce Elaine Sorrenson, 86, of Iowa City, died Monday, April 8, 2013.

Joyce was born Aug. 26, 1926, on the family farm east of Hartington, Neb., to Stephen and Mabel Pearson Wohlman. She attended Branch grade school and graduated from Hartington High School in 1944. She attended Wayne State Teachers College, Wayne, Neb., before teaching for 10 years. She taught in the Cedar County country schools of Spring Valley, Branch, Mayflower and Golden Prairie and Mission Hill, South Dakota and Fort Dodge, Iowa. She also taught in her church's Sunday school and was active in 4-H as a participant and a leader. She was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran faith and was a member of the Iowa City Zion Lutheran Church.

Joyce married Merlynn Sorrenson on June 29, 1947, in Trinity Lutheran Church, Hartington, Neb. They farmed in the Hartington, Neb., area for several years. They lived in Laurel, Neb.; Yankton, S.D.; Osceola, Neb.; and Fort Dodge, Iowa, before moving to Iowa City in 1968. She worked as head of chart control in the Urology Department and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, retiring in 1986.

She enjoyed bowling and was on several teams in Nebraska and Fort Dodge and Iowa City, Iowa. She also enjoyed crafting and crocheting. She has given crocheted afghans to Ronald McDonald House, the Domestic Violence Center, the VA Hospital, Emergency Housing and to the Kuttawa Dialysis Center, Kuttawa, Ky.

She and her husband belonged to Coast to Coast Travel Club, Royal Parks International Camping Club, Mississippi Adventurer Resorts and the Good Sam Camping Club. They were members of the local Good Sam Camping Club the Herky City Sams. She served as the Iowa State Good Sam historian from 1996 to 2003. Since 1987, they had spent winters in their RV throughout various southern states from Florida to Arizona.

Survivors are her two daughters, JoLynn and her husband, Arley Phillips; grandson, Patrick Phillips all of Kuttawa, Ky; and RoZella and her husband, Lee Grabin, grandson Adam and wife Jeri and two great-grandchildren, Wesley and Hannah, all of Oxford; and one sister-in-law, Loretta Wohlman, Hartington, Neb., and her four children and families.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Merlynn; and brother, Merle Wohlman.

No services are planned for Iowa City. The cremains of Joyce and her husband, Merlynn will be buried at the Obert, Neb. Cemetery on June 24, 2013 at 10 a.m.

Memorials may be given to Johnson County Humane Society or Dogs for the Deaf Inc. or to the memorial of your choice.

Online condolences may be sent for her family through the web at .

Arrangements are being handled by Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation of Iowa City, Iowa.

Published in The Gazette April 10, 2013.